268. Bad Medicine, Part 1: The Story of 98.6
We tend to think of medicine as a science, but for most of human history it has been scientific-ish at best. In the first episode of a three-part series, we look at the grotesque mistakes produced by ...
1 Des 201644min
The No-Tipping Point (Rebroadcast)
The restaurant business model is warped: kitchen wages are too low to hire cooks, while diners are put in charge of paying the waitstaff. So what happens if you eliminate tipping, raise menu prices, a...
24 Nov 201644min
267. How to Make a Bad Decision
Some of our most important decisions are shaped by something as random as the order in which we make them. The gambler's fallacy, as it's known, affects loan officers, federal judges -- and probably y...
17 Nov 201635min
Introducing Stephen J. Dubner's new podcast, "Tell Me Something I Don't Know"
"Tell Me Something I Don't Know" is a live game show hosted by Stephen J. Dubner of "Freakonomics Radio." He has always had a mission: to tell you the things you thought you knew but didn't, and thing...
15 Nov 201653min
266. Trust Me
Societies where people trust one another are healthier and wealthier. In the U.S. (and the U.K. and elsewhere), social trust has been falling for decades -- in part because our populations are more di...
10 Nov 201627min
How Much Does the President Really Matter? (Rebroadcast )
The U.S. president is often called the "leader of free world." But if you ask an economist or a Constitutional scholar how much the occupant of the Oval Office matters, they won't say much. We look at...
9 Nov 201633min
265. The White House Gets Into the Nudge Business
A tiny behavioral-sciences startup is trying to improve the way federal agencies do their work. Considering the size (and habits) of most federal agencies, this isn't so simple. But after a series of ...
3 Nov 201642min
264. In Praise of Incrementalism
What do Renaissance painting, civil-rights movements, and Olympic cycling have in common? In each case, huge breakthroughs came from taking tiny steps. In a world where everyone is looking for the nex...
27 Okt 201648min
